Proper Motion of Water Masers Near NGC1333-SVS13

Alwyn Wootten, Kevin Marvel, Mark Claussen, Bruce Wilking

Published 2001-05-24Version 1

VLBA observations of water masers toward the region of NGC1333 near SVS13, the driving source for the well-known Herbig-Haro objects HH7-11, are reported. Maser emission was observed over four epochs spaced by three weeks during late 1998. SVS13 is associated with the millimeter continuum SED Class I source SSV13A1. High resolution CO observations have secured the association of the flow with the continuum object on arc-second scales. A 1998 Aug 12 VLA observation places the blueshifted masers within 80 AU (0''.2) of the 2.7 mm position for A1 reported from BIMA. We report observations of two groups of masers, one redshifted by about 6 km s-1 and one blueshifted by about 2-3 km s-1, separated by about 100 AU in projected distance along position angle 21 degrees. Redshifted masers were present only in the latter two epochs. During all epochs, an arclike structure was present with similar morphology; over time this structure moved relative to the southernmost blue maser toward the southeast, roughly along the position angle defined by the Herbig-Haro objects, with a proper motion of about 13 km s-1. Both redshifted and blueshifted masers are clearly part of the same lobe of the flow; their observed Doppler shifts are artifacts of the opening angle of the flow. Our data suggest that the opening angle is about 10 degrees. We measure lower expansion velocities and a wider opening angle than has been found in some other flows near Class 0 SED objects, perhaps indicating that the flows open and slow as they age.